Taliban leader Mullah Omar sent letter to Barack Obama

Current and former US officials  said the letter was written last year . The previously undisclosed communication was considered authentic by people who saw it, but skeptical administration officials say they cannot determine if it actually came from Omar.

The unsigned letter was passed through a Taliban intermediary in July. An administration official says it represented views consistent with what Taliban emissaries had been telling U.S. officials.

 The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the letter and its contents are part of sensitive diplomacy.    A direct message from Omar could be a strong signal that the Taliban movement is interested in negotiation at the highest levels.

Meanwhile on Feb 1,2012 The Taliban militia leading a 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan  denied that they would soon hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government in Saudi Arabia.

 "There is no truth in these published reports saying that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate would meet with representatives of the Karzai government in Saudi Arabia in the near future," the Taliban said on their website.

Afghan officials, requesting anonymity, had suggested that the two sides would hold talks in Saudi Arabia separate from planned negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the United States.